Ju/'hoansi Namesake Kinship

The Ju/'hoansi kinship system recognizes two types of relationship, which
might be distinguished in Western terms as biological and fictive kin.
Biological relatedness follows standard genealogical considerations, which
are given careful attention. Name relationships take no account of genealogy
and create kin ties solely on the basis of people's names and those of
their consanguineal and affinal relatives
(Lee 2002:69-72).
However,
a close interconnection
between the two systems occurs insofar as:

The rules for giving people personal names are based upon genealogical
relationships and add a special connotation to important kin terms
and interactions.

People with the same names and their close relatives assume specific
kinship obligations to each other.

The Ju/'hoansi have a fixed system of personal naming.

A first born son is named after his father's father.

A second son is named after his mother's father.

Additional sons are name after father's brothers and then mother's brothers.

A similar set of rules applies to girls.

The implications of this system are worked out (for males) in the following
hypothetical genealogy to which names have been applied according
to the rules specified above.. (Note that birth order is declines from
left to right).

Allocation of Names according to Kin Relationship

An important implication is immediately observable. The reoccurrence of
a personal name (at least for first and second sons and daughters) mirrors
the pattern of the identification of alternating generations as an automatic
consequence of the naming custom, i.e., Twi occurs in the odd numbered
generations, and Toma occurs in the even ones. In addition, several cousins
in the same generation will have the same name, because of a shared grandparent.
Accordingly, members of the same and alternate generations are brought
together both by the use of common kin terms and their reciprocals
-- kuna/kuma
(see Ju/'hoansi kin terms) -- and by shared
names.
In fact the apparent kin terms are actually naming terms.
Kuna means "old(er) name(sake)",
and kuma means "small (younger) name(sake)".
This double system of identification strengthens the affectionate and
joking relationships that occur among cousins and between grandparents and
grandchildren. It similarly reinforces avoidance relationships between
members of adjacent generations. It also serves as a shorthand way of
recognizing a relationship without the need for detailed genealogical
tracing.

The other side to the linking of personal names and kinship ties is
the tendency of names in themselves to connote a kin relationship, the
basis of the San "name relationship" system. If two people have the same
name they can assume a (kuna/kuma relationship) according
to their relative ages. This tie institutes a friendship which follows
the customs of a joking relationship and can also involve the assignment
of kinship rights and obligations. It can lead to an invitation to camp
in the settlement of a "namesake". Furthermore, the kuna/kuma
status results in the establishment of the appropriate ties to each other's
immediate kin. A man will develop an reserved relationship with a namesake's
avoidance kin and will be forbidden to marry a mother or sister of a namesake
or a woman with his mother or sister's name. He will accordingly
developing joking relationships with people that have the same names
as his joking kin. Thus namesake
relationships are not substantially different from genealogical ones. They
add an important element of flexibily to the Ju/'hoansi social order by
widening the scope of kinship and kin relationships to people who have no
traceable biological connection.

While the double system of classification often involves a reinforcement
of ties,
it may also create contradictions insofar as two peoples' kin and name
relationships can involve different and sometimes opposed sets of
obligations. This situation
regularly occurs as a consequence of naming third and subsequent sons and
daughters after brothers and sisters, which occurs approximately 20% of
the time. For example the Bos of the third and fourth generations in the
diagram are biologically related as tsu/tsuna (uncle
and nephew) but because of their common name are also kuna/kuma.
The former
is an avoidance relationship, and the latter is a joking one. In this
instance there is no specific rule to determine which set of behaviours to
follow. Lee suggests that in general the older member of the pair
has the descretion to decide which of the two alternatives to follow.
Raymond Firth, commenting on a similar situation in the Pacific island of
Tikopia, maintains that choices in ambiguous kin term situations are
governed by strategic interests such as economic and political gain or
sometimes by just a simple desire to reduce confusion
(Firth 1930).